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Scarborough To Filey Yorkshire 4

The colourful harbourside at Scarborough is steeped in history and has been the very heart of the Town, since it has existed. The first harbour built here was financed from the purse of Henry III who made a grant of 40 oaks from his woods to the men of Scarborough in 1225. Later in 1564 Queen Elizabeth granted £500, 100 tons of timber and 6 tons of iron for the harbour to be rebuilt. However it was King George II in 1732 who passed an act to enlarge the harbour by building Vincents Pier and the East Pier at cost of £12,000, the present piers we see today. Later at the beginning of the 19th century the West Pier was added and at this time there were upwards of 300 sailing ships at Scarborough. Scarborough had become one of the principal ship building centres on the East Coast. From 1785 to 1810, 209 ships were built with a tonnage of 35,683 tons. As many as 15 ships were launched in one year. In 1849, a company was formed to provide means for repairing ships at Scarborough and a floating dock was built capable of taking ships up to 300 tons. The Lighthouse built in 1804 is situated on Vincent Pier, the original lighthouse was severely damaged by those German Shells in 1914 and had to be rebuilt, it reopened in 1931. In 1787 there were 1,500 seamen belonging to the port, 500 of whom sailed with the East India Service. Exports included corn, butter, hams, bacon and salt fish and imports: coal, timber, hemp, flax, iron, brandy and wines.

Today it is a wonderful area to walk round and enjoy the sights and sounds of a busy tourist harbour. You can sit and watch the pleasure craft leaving and entering the port and the working boats landing their catch, although the fishing industry has declined over recent years. There is still a small working fleet sailing in and out of Scarborough and visiting vessels, especially Scottish ones, still use the harbour today.

There is an annual Seafest maritime festival at the West Pier in July, where you can dive into years of fishing history in the North East with Coble and Keel boat displays, free tours on Royal Navy patrol boats and HMS Pickle, learn more about the fishing industry on a shell fish tour, relive history with maritime heritage displays, enjoy live cooking demos by Yorkshire chefs in the free cooking theatre, experience local live music, Ale and over 40 stalls selling local craft and produce. All rounded off with a firework display on the Saturday night in South Bay.https://www.discoveryorkshirecoast.com/whats-on/major-events/scarborough-seafest.aspx